The Portland Peaceful Response Coalition 5:00 p.m. Friday rally and
march
for peace at Pioneer Courthouse Square will be co-hosted by Jews for
Global
Justice (JfGJ) and representatives from Americans United for
Palestinian
Human Rights (AUPHR) to mark a Global Day of Action Against Israel’s
Separation Wall. "The Israeli government has called it a ‘security
barrier’
but the reality is that this wall is part of the largest land grab
since the
illegal occupation began over thirty-six years ago," said Will Seaman,
a
volunteer with PPRC and JfGJ. "They’ve cut off dozens of Palestinian
communities from their agricultural land, from schools, from hospitals
and
clinics, and all this while vast swaths of Palestinian land is enclosed
and
effectively stolen by the constuction of this illegal wall." This
weekend,
on November 9th, the official International Day of Action Against
Israel’s
Apartheid Wall will be observed in hundreds of cities worldwide.

"As we have on many occasions since the beginning of this latest
Intifada,
Jews and Palestinians are coming together to demand an end to this
criminal
occupation, an end to the illegal settlements, and end to the
collective
punishments and detentions, an end to the torture and assassinations,
an end
to the policies that lie at the root of this terrible conflict," said
Seaman. "The grief of losing loved ones to the violence of repression
or to
the violence of resistance, grief felt alike by Israelis and
Palestinians,
must unify us all in this struggle to tear down this Apartheid wall and
end
the occupation." All three of the organizations represented at Fridays
rally and march call for conditioning US aid to Israel on an end to the
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

"Through the months of November and December, we’re asking people to
contact
their representatives in Washington, D.C., to call for a change in our
country’s policy towards Israel/Palestine," said Mikel Clayhold, a
volunteer
with PPRC. "We need to persuade our senators and representatives that
US
policy towards Israel must be based on human rights and international
law."